UKRAINE (9 February)
Winter cereals have been planted on about 7.1 million hectares, similar to the past five year average planted area but up by about one million hectare on last year. Good precipitation and protective snow cover may result in a repeat of last year’s record harvest. In addition, Ukraine plans to increase areas planted with spring cereals and the heavy snowfall may provide sufficient soil moisture to ensure good crop growth in spring and summer. Last year Ukraine harvested a record 41 million tonnes of grains, compared with just over 20 million tonnes harvested in 2003. The harvest in 2004 included some 17.5 million tonnes of wheat, 11 million tonnes of barley and nearly 9 million tonnes of maize. High and rising regional and domestic demand as well as relatively high returns from maize have prompted farmers to increase maize production from just over 3 million tonnes in 2002 to nearly 9 million tonnes in 2004.
Aggregate cereal exports during the 2004/05 marketing year are tentatively forecast at nearly 9 million tonnes, which includes some 4 million tonnes of wheat, 3.5 million tonnes of barley and 1.4 million tonnes of maize. In 2003/04, for the first time in the past decade, became a net cereal importer with imports totalling some 3.9 million tonnes following crop failure in 2003.